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Friday, November 22, 2013

Few things are as simple and perfect as real, fresh pasta. However, most of us don't have the luxury of nonnas slaving away in our kitchens every afternoon, churning out linguine, spaghetti and tagliatelle in time for us to make dinner. Most of us Westerners (me included) also abuse our pasta by drowning it in sauce and/or cheese - meaning the fine qualities of an artisan pasta are lost anyway.

All this means that when the opportunity to experience the process of making, cooking and eating homemade noodles arises, it is something to savour. The flavour of the silky smooth semolina and egg dough is unlike anything you can buy (fresh or dried), and after the briefest of boils it only takes a mere drizzle of flavourful extra virgin olive (or camelina) oil, maybe a grind or two of black pepper and a clove of minced garlic to achieve the pinnacle of taste. Anything heavier than a light (light!) tomato concasse or a true (i.e. cream-free) carbonara preparation would smother the tender noodles and kill their unique golden hue and rich flavour.

While pasta is inherently simple to make (I'm not talking about the Chinese lye-water noodles, mind you), it does take time and patience. These eggy strands can be tricky (and sticky) to get through the pasta machine (mine couldn't get the dough narrower than linguine), and like pie crust and cookies the mixture is best worked with after a rest period of at least an hour, preferably overnight. However, it is that kind of care that comes through in the finished product... and how can you go wrong with something that tastes like your heart and soul went into it?